Online Training Start-up Treads SaaS Path For Business Growth

Software-as-a-Service has created innumerable opportunities for start-up companies, which often have a bare minimum number of employees and capital to start with. Metamorph, a company that offers online retail employability training solutions, is one such start-up company that is fully leveraging the SaaS model to further spread the wings of its business. Founded in 2008 in Bangalore, Metamorph intends to train and place over 1,50,000 youth over the next three years. The company has partnered with a large infrastructure provider having a network of over 2,000 centres in the country to enable youth from the economically-disadvantaged strata to access its training.

The company started with a small, three-member team undertaking training, development of training modules, handling of accounts and finance all by themselves. Like any other business, Metamorph also needed an application that would be able to track and record all business transactions. The company needed a simple application that would undertake tasks such as tracking expenses incurred and raising invoices. At the same time, the company did not want to make a heavy investment in IT infrastructure or invest in people to operate such an infrastructure.

The company was strongly recommended accounting packages like Tally, however, Suki Iyer, founder CEO, Metamorph, who comes from a marketing technology background, strongly believed that the technology adopted should be able to help them in both the short and long term. Besides, they did not want to have the headache of maintaining an on-premise system or dependence on accounts and systems people. “I was very clear that I did not want any accounting solutions as they are limited by functionality and scalability. As a start-up, we wanted to optimise our finances on our core offering rather than extend them to other operational modules,” she says. Further, coming from a technology background, she knew that home-grown systems also may not always be the best choice, as often after a point of time they are not able to match the growth of the company.

Metamorph needed a business solution that could provide integrated information, enabling the organisation to address its simple finance and accounting needs; a solution that could be upgraded as and when the organisation’s needs evolve.

The Solution

After a thorough analysis of a number of solutions, the company decided to go in for Microsoft Dynamics NAV 4.0 on software + service kind of model. Microsoft Dynamics NAV is essentially an enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, which is primarily targeted at SMEs.

Due to its focus on flexibility, self sufficiency and low capital investment, the company decided to adopt a subscription-based model. The company is currently paying Rs 4,000 for each user licence.

It approached Affordable Business Solutions (ABS), a Microsoft gold certified partner to implement the business management solution. The solution is hosted at ABS’ data centre on IBM blade servers. The implementation was also easy and quick. ABS undertook the implementation in just three-and-a-half days. The company has presently rolled out the finance and purchase modules. In the next phase, it is looking to roll out the other modules based on the various training programs scheduled for release.

Microsoft Dynamics NAV 4.0 allows the company to integrate its systems, effectively manage its finance and accounting, meet statutory norms and stay agile while growing rapidly. Besides, MS Dynamics ERP will automatically take care of changes in the statutory and tax requirements. “Now, we can access real-time data and easily generate accounting reports,” says Iyer. The solution also provides graphical reports and displays in a familiar Microsoft user interface, giving users a clear insight into the business performance at a glance.

Concerns

The software + service model has been appreciated for its flexibility and scalability; however, it still has to overcome the issues of security and availability. Metamorph’s fundamental business depends on Web technology and hence, unlike others the company could easily overcome the mind block related to the Web platform. The firm is also familiar with safeguards to ensure 24/7 availability of systems and takes data back-up on a regular basis. “We have been using this solution for over seven months now and have not faced a single incident of system downtime or unavailability.”

Benefits

Iyer excitingly describes the potential benefits of this implementation and the SaaS approach. In case of the traditional on-premise model, almost 50 to 60 percent of the investment is upfront and the rest in spread over the years. “I think, compared to the traditional model, this is really value for money for start-ups like ours, which may not want to make upfront investments in IT. This model has helped us to make almost 50 percent savings on the IT investment front. This further enables the organisation to dedicate the major amount of funds towards its core business growth.”

Srikant Rao, founder and CEO, Affordable Business Solutions, says that SaaS ensures cost savings on two fronts, viz. the cost of implementation (which involves hardware, software etc and may run into lakhs) and the cost of operations and maintenance (which involves maintenance of systems as well as salaries of dedicated IT staff.)

He further says, “Implementing the accounting module for Metamorph has strengthened our belief that small and medium businesses are embracing the Software + Service model as a business critical, strategic investment at twice the rate of large businesses. These organisations have a higher propensity to adopt applications that are database driven and support a highly distributed workforce.”

The automation of accounts and finance has streamlined processes, which have helped the company to keep a sharp vigil on its fiscal performance without actually having dedicated staff for accounts. The Web-based service model makes it an anytime, anywhere accessible system, which Iyer thinks is a must in today’s fast-paced life.

The adoption of Software + Service lends the growing business of Metamorph adaptability. It can upgrade the services as the business scales. Metamorph also has an option of adopting a mix of on-premise software with SaaS as their needs change.

In the current slowdown, while large companies are grappling with financial resources, it is difficult to imagine the scenario for smaller organisations. Looking at the sheer size of the SMB segment in India, it would be safe to say that the Software + Service kind of model definitely has a bright future in the country.